If You Goin Coupe, I'm Goin 4-Door

Today's a great day for hip hop fans. More specifically if you're a fan of either J.Cole, Kanye West, or Mac Miller (or Lil B, I guess). Most sites and blogs will try to be as unbiased as possible and give you separate reviews for each of these projects, but I decided to do something a little different.

No hate to those sites by the way, there are some great reviews out there. Check your local Twitter timeline.

Now, this little post is gonna be more of my personal opinions about these albums since you know, harping about your opinions is the cool thing to do. A few precursors before I get into it: (1) I had extremely high hopes for Yeezus although as more and more information about it was being released, I became more and more apprehensive, (2) Outside of a couple Mac Miller songs, I never really rocked with the dude. Not because he was wack, I just was sleepin', (3) I've been waiting for this J.Cole release for what seems like the longest time.

As soon as J.Cole's Born Sinner was being passed around like a blunt a week or so ago, I had to take a puff. Right off the bat, I could tell Cole had a lot more creative control on this than he did on his debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story. The beats were less pop-influenced (once again, 99% produced by Jermaine himself) and a lot darker than his freshman effort was. J.Cole has the constant criticism of being boring - being the guy that always talks about the same things every song. I have to agree with this but you can't knock a guy for speaking on what he knows and has experienced, right? Maybe that's why his freestyles and features seem to go so much harder than his own songs (see: "Looking For Trouble"). Look at my iTunes and you'll see that a lot of the not-so-mainstream artists I listen to are kinda like Cole. They rap about no more than a few topics and eventually have that song or two that can either be a radio hit or just a fun song.

Lyrically, this'll be the best album you'll hear today. Cole is a nice balance between underground / highly intellectual rap and mainstream rap. I've said this from the day I first listened to his work. This shows in Born Sinner as you see he's nice with the words. Nowhere near Lupe or Nas, but dude is still nice. Pair that with a couple aesthetically bangin' joints he has on there ("Crooked Smile," "She Knows"), and this is a solid sophomore project. And hey, no worries if you hate on the subject matter. He speaks about topics a typical dude can relate to and that speaks for itself.

Mac Miller has been a name I've heard plenty of the last couple years or so. I never really had an opinion on the guy's music because outside of one song ("Donald Trump"), I never really listened to his music. So naturally, when I heard his album Watching Movies With The Sound Off was droppin' the same day as Cole and Ye, I brushed it off. Didn't really concern me and I didn't think it would make much of an impact in terms of sales. And then...I started hearing the rumbles. Twitter started whispering about this dude Mac Miller who had a dope album. Like most popular topics on Twitter, I started off ignoring it. People rock with different things and I wasn't about to jump in on the bandwagon. But then it got even worse: people whose musical opinions I respected and trusted started talking about him, too. And after finally giving it a listen, I saw why.

Aesthetically (aka: sound-wise), this'll be the best album you'll hear today. Lyrically, nothing better than a typical mainstream artist. Homie flows nice and his hooks grab a listener. In fact, out of the three albums you'll listen to today, this one will definitely be the one you hit repeat on the most. It's just one of those albums that you can drive around the city and bang to in the whip. It just sounds good. In fact, I'm listening to the album (again) while typing this up. Don't get me wrong, there are some whack joints on here but overall, it's something I like playing on big speakers. Shouts to Mac for droppin' a great project under the pressure of having the same release date as J.Cole and one of the most controversial people in alllllllllllll of entertainment: Kanye West.

Oh, Kanye. Kanye, Kanye, Kanye. Ye. Yeezy. Mr. West. And then...Yeezus? Right off the bat, I don't like the connection between him and religion (dude has a song titled "I Am A God" -______- ). But rappers seem to do it a lot these days, no one more than Kanye. Not that I condone it or anything. Kanye has been getting mixed reactions for a long time now. In fact, his whole career he's been getting criticism for being different. He was the college kid turned producer turned rapper. Since when did college kids get into hip hop? Since when did producers get into rapping? Kanye paved the way for a lotta new cats to get into the game, including college graduate J.Cole. He has always been at the forefront of new sounds in music and possess amazing production skills. His rapping prowess is undeniable as well. The College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation are some of my most favorite albums of all time. Then came personal problems in his life including his mother's death. For those that criticize his life, imagine going through this. Hardest thing a person can go through. That bought him an excuse when 808's dropped and got mixed reviews. Then came My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Both these albums took a while to grow on me. I hated them at first. I'm a classic guy, I like the old school stuff that hip hop was based off of. But Kanye somehow made these sounds work. Then came a couple collaboration albums in Watch The Throne and Cruel Summer. These also got mixed reviews but for me, I liked them. They were more classic hip hop than experimental and original Kanye. And they absolutely BANGED on the speakers. Now there's...Yeezus.

Honestly, this'll be the worst album you'll hear today. Straight up, I just don't like the album. Yet I still have an ounce of hope for it. I keep saying it'll grow on me. I've listened to it 3 or 4 times through now and still...nothing. Lyrically, it's terrible. I think most of the hip hop community will agree when I say this is Kanye's worst performance lyrically. Production wise? I just don't know. I don't know these sounds that I'm hearing. People say it's original. People say stop hating on different. And that seems to be the general consensus about everything and every topic nowadays. Just close your eyes and accept. I say nah. I still have my morals and my values and my opinions that extend beyond just music. I don't like this album. I won't say it's terrible or it sucks, but I just don't like it. There are a few joints I could see myself playing on their own some time in the future but overall, just no. It just sounds weird and doesn't work for me. The craziest thing is that you almost know Kanye will have the highest number of sales this week. No one man should have all that power.

Speaking of originality and creativity, I'm sick of people raggin' on artists for having a "novelty" song or just a goofy song (see: "Thrift Shop"). Now I'm not defending Macklemore here, but what's wrong with someone having fun on a song like this? I first heard of this dude Macklemore nearly four years ago as a freshman in college. During this period, I was infatuated with the Seattle hip hop music scene. They were just so damn dope. Macklemore was no different. Look past "Thrift Shop" and look at some of his work before you criticize. He has some powerful songs and goes beyond just a novelty rapper. This short lesson should be applied to all artists. Some people seem to forget that most of these rappers got into the game because it's something they love doing. It doesn't always start off just because they need to pay bills. There's a love with the music that these artists have. So next time your favorite rapper makes a song that's not lyrically mind-blowing or doesn't seem to fit in with his typical work, don't tear him to pieces. People are so quick to criticize, but don't take time to appreciate or understand. Damn.

But still, Kanye....I don't even know...

For those of you still reading this, let's take some time to appreciate all the music that's been coming out! After having sporadic releases of good music the last year or two, we're getting bombarded from all angles with some excellent projects. Kendrick Lamar's last album is still getting heavy rotation and we haven't even mentioned what's to come. Jay-Z nearly destroyed the internet by revealing his newest album dropping July 4th on national television. Who does that? No one man should THAT much power. Yeezus!

Jay-Z. Wale. Eminem. All albums soon to come. Hopefully this year when speaking of Em.

And how can we forget Lupe, Jay Electronica, and Dr. Dre! Good music all around!

Now time for me to go out and buy Born Sinner. Still wish the deluxe edition had the standard edition's cover. The black and gold looks more raw to me.

Anyway, as they say on Twitter: "At the end of the day, your opinion doesn't matter at all. No one's does." Well...except maybe Kanye's...

Shouts to Z and Dino.

I'm outty.
ChiTownGuevara